Raleigh, NC Reviews

Floundering and Declining - 2/7/2016
City management has made a terrible decision to try to change its reputation from a great place for families to a haven for trendy techies. Local tech companies already cutting employees and bars and other related businesses are going out of business. Downtown and surrounding areas are losing their attractive quirkiness to huge vanilla buildings with no soul and very over-priced apartments. Minorities are being pushed out - the general assembly continues to pass laws that harm education and financially harm those not in the upper 10% financially. It's terrible watching a good place to live being deliberately ruined. Read More

Is there such a thing as a Yankee-free town in the - 9/3/2015
I live in Raleigh. I grew up in NC but I served in the Army for several years and subsequently lived in the DC area for several more years. During my time away, I became acutely aware of the not-so-subtle differences between Yankees and those of us whose families are nothing but Southern, for better or for worse. I've finally made my way back to my home state to find that even here, I still cannot escape the Yankees and their arrogance, hypocrisy, and wild sense of entitlement. Every forum I see devolves into someone from the northern states who is thinking of moving to NC seeking information on where they can find, and live with, all the other Yankees who have already made the move. There is no effort to integrate or respect the lifestyle of the people who have lived here for generations and I see it reflected everywhere. From local political elections, where Yankees seem to feel like they have some obligation to impose their values on everyone else, everywhere else until they Read More

Unfriendly - 6/30/2015
I am from the Deep South and had the misfortune of living in Raleigh for 7 years. Because the inside the beltline neighborhoods reminded us of home, we chose a house there. Our neighbors were not welcoming or friendly, nor were people warm at my children's church preschool and elementary school. My children were routinely excluded from birthday parties and play dates. I began to think, "These people have southern accents but they are the most inhospitable un-southern people I have ever encountered." It took quite a few years for my kids to make some close school friends. Other southern transplants told me they had experienced similar treatment. One of my southern transplant acquaintances lasted only a couple of years and she and her family packed up and moved back home. A Raleigh native once told me that his daughter was living in the Deep South and could not believe how much nicer the people were. Exactly! We finally made the decision to move back to the Deep South and we Read More

Raleigh is AWESOME!!! - 5/16/2015
Raleigh, North Carolina is the BEST city in the south. The crime rate is low, it is safe. I lived there from 1998 (moved from Chapel Hill, NC to Raleigh immediately after graduating high school to go to college) until 2015 for family reasons and now I have to live in Durham, NC which IS A HELLHOLE, but Raleigh is awesome. It's diverse and you do not run into racist sons of bitches (on any side of the spectrum. Being a white person in the south I see a lot of racism between white and black on both sides but Raleigh, which does have it's moments as anywhere does, but for the very most part it was very balanced...The downtown has a beautiful historic district with beautiful homes....it's home to North Carolina State University (NCSU), which is the number one University in the state for Computer Science/Engineering/Veterinarian school in the state which is pretty good considering it's a stones throw from Duke University and University of North Carolina (UNC) - The city is extraordinarily Read More

Thumbs down - 3/2/2015
I'd recommend another part of the Carolinas...The people here are very rude and also cliquish. They are totally against anyone new coming in so my advice is stay away as well. I moved here for a business opportunity and couldn't believe how much like a small town it is with very nosy neighbors, gossipy bs talk, group think and intimidation tactics to get you to leave. Our sin? We're not from here. The Raleigh area is VERY Read More

The Triangle region has a lot to offer, you just h - 9/11/2014
I've lived in the Raleigh -Durham area most of my life and I love it. There's plenty to do from sports and the arts, to great restaurants and outdoor activities. What's unique about our area is that everything is so close, yet you can still be far away from it all. Durham, Raleigh,and Chapel-Hill each have their own unique vibes, and hoping from one to the other to explore takes 25 mins tops. Now Durham is probably the 'grittier' of the three, but it's not nearly as bad as I've seen folks make it out to be.Everyone's perspective is different, but I was really shocked to read all the negative experiences people have had here. This area is not perfect, no city is, but Raleigh definitely has almost everything that you could want. Great place to raise kids, things to do, great job market, and a strong economy. Now yes, the entire Triangle area is changing. Downtown Raleigh and Downtown Durham are both transforming in major ways and people are moving here like crazy, but that just adds to Read More

Moving to Raleigh from Alaska - 9/10/2014
Hello all. My family and I are originally from the Phoenix, AZ area. We have lived in Alaska for approx. 7 years. After 7 years we have come to the conclusion that we are not "Alaskan" type people. Here's what we don't like. Long, cold winters, Long, Hot summers (like Phx, we don't like really large crowded cities (like Phx) and we don't like "unclassy, rude, meth-heads (like Alaska). We love culture, history, sporting events, concerts, museums etc. After searching and searching it seems that Raleigh offers a lot of what we like. I've been there before and thought it was a nice city and the people seemed to be polite and nice. Problem that we have had in Phx and Alaska is making friends. In Phx it's so busy and crowded it's like no one talks to each other not even neighbors. No one seems to trust anyone there. In Alaska it's sort of the same, however, most people are on drugs or just low class (you know the type that throws there trash out front, wears their PJ's to the Read More

No one is from Raleigh! - 9/4/2014
Been here since 1991. I am in the HVAC trade. I have been fortunate enough to visit all the states but Alaska. Three other continents and was born in Louisiana. So let's talk about Raleigh, Cary, Chapel hill and Durham. You will hear a lot negative about the area. The fact of the matter is I don't meet anyone from here. Everyone tends to be from north eastern states. There has been a huge amount of southern migration. Along with that is attitudes and mind sets follow. So the area is basically a melting lot of northerners. Unfortunately the southerners get a bad name cause god forbid any northerner bad mouth another northerner. Unless they are talking about how bad it was where the come from.
So yes Raleigh is not the best place to move to. Taxes are going up because they are accepted because they are way lower than where the majority came from. We just got a toll road of our own. Traffic sux during rush hour cause no one knows any other way home but the one the learned the Read More

looking to relocate from Orlando to Raleigh - 6/5/2014
Hello, all. My wife and I currently live in Orlando. FL and are looking to either move to Raleigh or Roanoke in 2-3 years. We visited Raleigh in Move member and absoloved the autumn scenery and what seemed to be a friendly town. We've never been to Roanoke but here it's a good place to find affordable living with four seasons and low crime, like Raleigh. Of course, the grass can be greener on the other side and wanted to get input from natives, especially those that might have a frame of reference to how it compares to Orlando and Roanoke. We want more info on cost of living and day to day life vs. Orlando or Roanoke. Orlando has plenty of things to do, housing isn't too expensive, and the jobs are picking up, but wages are crap and the endless humid summer gets reallllyy old. Traffic is almost as bad as Atlanta here, too. Thanks for any Read More

On the Political/Religious Atmosphere of Raleigh - 3/5/2014
Raleigh is not as left-leaning as Durham or Chapel Hill but it is still more progressive than the rest of the state. It is also a more politically-minded place than Charlotte, with twice the level of voter participation usually. There is actually not that much influence from religious evangelical groups here, on a local level. Typically the conservatives in Wake County tend to be more libertarian in their views.

As a socialist, as an atheist, and as someone in a same-sex relationship, I've been very comfortable living in the Triangle. I don't know how people get the opinion that you have to 'belong to a church' to do anything here... I never have. And I don't actually know that many people that do. And I haven't been hurting for things to do. Wake County is the most secular county in NC and one of the most secular counties in the southeast. A quick check on ARDA confirms that the majority of people living in the city don't attend church or belong to any congregation (that Read More